New building

St. Paul's New Church Building

We are getting a new building, but we're not there yet! The previous one was demolished last year - it was well past its design lifetime and did not meet the current and future needs of the congregation or the community.

In its place we now have the shell of a new multi-function Community Church Base that will not only provide a wonderful place to worship God but will also offer a whole host of other facilities that will complement and extend what we have at the Oaks Centre. Our aim is that it be open 7 days a week, and attract a similar weekly footfall to what the Oaks does now - above 400 people. As part of the "shell", we have most of the underfloor heating and ventilation controls, the car park, fencing, paving and groundworks. However, ceilings, some internal walls, wall and floor finishes, woodwork, and most plumbing and electrics - including alarm, communications and audio visual systems, remain to be fitted. Originally we had intended to get everything done at once, but the cost of an all-in project was rising faster than we were raising the money.

We now believe that, by placing a number of contracts with local companies and doing some of the work ourselves, we can deliver the complete building for less money than by awarding a single fit-out contract, yet without compromising quality or reducing the design specification/ functionality.

Over £805,000 has been raised to date. The greater part of this has come from the generous giving of the congregation and fundraising in the community. Also within this figure is £155,000 from the sale of the Manna House. We have applied to a range of charitable trusts and foundations. So far we have received a total of £57,500, and are embarking on a second round of applications. Several other applications can be made for elements of the fit-out project now that we are much further down the road towards completion.

Of the £805,000 raised so far (September 2017), we have £77,000 available after deducting the amount devoted to the main contract and professional fees. We believe we still need another £126,000 to bring the building fully into use. It would be great if we could move in next Spring and finish the work by autumn of 2017. We'll need a lot of help from a lot of people to achieve this. However, we give thanks for the way God has blessed us and brought us this far, and we trust Him that He never leaves a job half done!

The following documents give much more detail about our plans and aspirations for the new building, though they were produced much earlier in the project and the figures are understandably out of date.

To see how the footprints compare between the new building, the 1890s Church and the Church building currently occupying the site, click here: http://www.stpaulspenketh.org.uk/images/uploads/files/St_Pauls_Site_Comparison.pdf